Aside from being backed by Bezos, this seems like Lemmy the car. Under 20K, an EV, no stupid touch screen, designed to be repaired and modded, and even crank windows.
I bet the catch, aside from Bezos, is the range or charge speed.
I don't think that it has a cell modem, either, because it sounds like it eschews a baked-in entertainment computer:
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a64564869/2027-slate-truck-revealed/
Roll-down windows come standard, as do manually adjustable rearview mirrors. An audio or infotainment system is noticeably missing, too. Instead, your cellphone or tablet serves these functions, with a dock for the former included and one for the latter available as an optional accessory. Better like the sound coming out from your phone or tablet's speakers, too, because the Slate lacks speakers, though the brand's accessory division will gladly hook you up with a set.
Honestly, if you took my last year of comments complaining about privacy-infringing cars and those complaining about changes to what a truck is, this does kind of look to be addressing both. Gotta see what the actual production vehicle is like in real life, of course, but...
When I say the truck is small, I mean it. At 174.6 inches, it’s about 2 feet shorter in overall length than the 2025 Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz. And to use the Wayback Machine to a time when compact pickups were actually compact, it’s roughly the same size as the compact pickups of 1980: the Toyota truck, Chevy LUV and Ford Courier. Notably, no other automakers have offered trucks of this size in America since the mid 1990s.
Yeah, like the "inexpensive, no-frills utility vehicle" that pickups originally were.
because the Slate lacks speakers,
I mean, I get they need to cut costs, but come on.... a damn radio wouldnt have killed them
Honestly, as long as it's easily DIY upgradable (accessible speaker mounting locations, standard DIN panels, etc) I am all for this. Most OEM audio systems are stupidly overpriced and suck complete donkey balls compared to what you can get for a few hundred bucks at Crutchfield and install in an afternoon.
For the last 20 years or so, most factory audio systems are so integrated into the rest of the electronics that they can be an absolute nightmare to upgrade unless you are a pro, which means you get the worst of both worlds: garbage audio, AND a steep upgrade path.
The Citroen AMI doesn't have speakers either, it comes with a Bluetooth speaker instead, which you can use outside the car. It makes sense if you just think of the entertainment stuff as something that shouldn't be part of the car and can easily be upgraded/replaced down the line.
Didn't some Scions come with no radio? The idea being they were targeted at younger folks who were more likely to customize their stereo, so "no stereo, but all the speaker grilles and mount points for one" is a bit like the "no operating system -$211" option on a Laptop. Happy Linux user noises.
I don't think that it has a cell modem, either
So it's not coming to Europe then.
No, the catch is that it isn't real.
@ me when it's rolling off the production line.
Until then...
it will have
you will be able to
Yeah they said they're hoping to be producing them by 2026. So likely won't be available till 2027/28
Standard Range (52.7 kWh) (est.): 150 miles
seems like but manageable for most people
That's not 150 miles of actual driving range, it's more like 75-100miles of actual range.
They do say that they also offer a larger battery pack with a 240 mi range, but yeah, even so, it's not gonna be a great vehicle for long-distance highway travel compared to a current ICE vehicle. Fine for a commuter, though.
Don't buy a truck if you're just a daily commuter, that's just plain dumb. Get a BEV with much better efficiency and a tow hitch for the occasional needs.
A bacon egg vehicle?
Battery Electric Vehicle
well its less it doesnt have a touch screen, the touch screen is an optional purchase.
the range iirc in some overview is 2 options, one was i think 150mi, the other was 240mi
From my other link, I don't think that the touch screen is an optional purchase. I don't think that they're selling any entertainment computer to have a screen on. It says that they come standard with a smartphone mounting point or optionally with a tablet mounting point. But the car computer is bring-your-own, and not built into the car. Which...is what I've wanted, because computers age out a lot more quickly than cars do.
I assume that there'll be an OBD-II slot that one can hook up to to feed data about the car to the phone/tablet. There's software that can make use of that. Dunno if there's any other data typically exposed to car computers other than what that provides.
Please keep in mind that this is after tax incentives. So let's just assume the tax incentives are zero and call it 27,000 just to be on the safe side.
Looks about right.
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a64564869/2027-slate-truck-revealed/
The Slate Truck is a bare-bones EV that's expected to cost a little under $27,500, which can drop to less than $20,000 with the federal EV tax credit included.
Cool but now I’m worried this is being spammed everywhere. New capitalism marketing at foot?
yea im already slightly tired of seeing this truck after the day(s) it's been promoted.
Whoa, now that raised an eyebrow. Doesn't look like the truck bed is ridiculously high. This checks a lot of boxes, and my crap vertebrae agree.
Definitely following this company.
Car dependency is a dead end for humanity regardless of what shit-boxes they manufacture.
For urban environments I 100% agree, but e-bikes and public transport can't help farmers* get their produce to market. I don't know much about this truck, but if it can fill a similar niche as the Japanese kei truck, I think it's great to provide people who actually need a pickup with an alternative to the F-150+ behemoths currently available stateside.
*Yes there are some urban farms that totally could operate via ebike/other form of micro mobility, however most farms, even small ones, are located >10 miles outside urban centers, usually in areas only accessible by roads and highways that are currently very dangerous for non-motorized transportation modes. Fixing this problem would take decades and hundreds of billions if not trillions of dollars even if the government were fully on board with the transportation network and/or land use changes necessary to allow for a true car-free society (which of course they aren't). I'm not such an idealist as to poo-poo a significant short-term improvement to the "oversized working vehicle" problem.
Agreed. Whether everyone should be driving everywhere is a completely separate problem. In the short term, people need replacements for current ICE vehicles, and an inexpensive truck that runs on electricity is fantastic while we figure out the rest of the issues.
I'm guessing eventually farmers won't need trucks, they'll need bots that fulfill that need instead.
Some of us live in spread out communities or rural areas. You don't expect all humans to live in a 2x2 ft cube in a 30 story tall building do you? Also, I guarantee not everyone else wants to live right next to other humans. I try to get as far as possible so I can do anything I want (be loud, be outside at any time, have parties etc). There is actually enough livable land on the planet for every single human to have 2 acres worth. Now, should people have children when there is already billions of us, that's another question.
Tbh, I'm super into this. Especially if the range could be extended slightly or if the truck is somewhat hackable.
But then... Bezos. Ugh.
What if, and here me out here, what if, and that’s a crazy thought, what if cars don’t have be ridicules in size and battery capacity is actually used more efficiently rather than carrying dead weight.
But I need my land barge to potentially carry 9000 pounds and 6 people for at least 400 miles without a break, even if I can barely manage to satisfy one of those criteria once a year. Otherwise it's a miserable failure that must be mocked.
Fuckin' seriously. I've got friends who are like "I wouldn't even consider an electric car until they have 1000 miles of range and can charge in fifteen minutes," like bruh, you make two road trips a year and have four kids; even if we pretend you weren't a two car family that takes the minivan anyway when you're traveling, there's no way your kids are making it a quarter of the range you "need" without stopping.
239 miles / 150 miles for big/small battery in angry eagle units.
Where’s the bullet point for Bezos? Hard pass if that shit bag is involved in anyway.
No mention of safety in the article. Does a manufacturer of this size have to do crash tests?
Also, this sounds like the Spirit/Ryanair of cars. Everything costs extra.
For years, I drove ~10-20 minutes to and from work. Mostly stroads and freeway. I could never justify buying an extra nice car because I didn't use it that much. Same for a nice car stereo. I'd just listen to NPR and talk radio for news, traffic reports, and maybe a quirky story about some cultural oddity or eclectic artist. If I spend thousands on a sound system it goes in my house, where I live and vibe. Now I work from home, ride my bike everywhere, and a tank of gas can easily last me a month. My current car was purchased for about $20k. If my car died for some reason, I don't even know if I'd be willing to part with 20k to replace it. I appreciate that these guys are building something for ordinary people and not another faux luxury lifted minivan the size of a garbage truck.
I can see a lot of retired people buying one of these to drive to their once a week bridge tournament or bingo night.
I can see a lot of retired people buying one of these to drive to their once a week bridge tournament or bingo night.
They would be far better served with a regular car instead of a pickup
I struggle to understand the point of a truck that can only tow 500kg… that and such awful range. If the range were doubled this would be a great deal, but as is it’s just dead in the water.
Curb weight 1634kg
This was the standout spec that might make me consider one.
I've been looking mainly at small hatchbacks/SUVs, and they all seem to weigh in at over 1800kg. And many are over 2000kg. Excluding Aptera...
Everyone seems to hate this thing based on marketing but I actually kind of liked the looks of it, sigh.
After seeing announcements and headlines like this for over 10 years and just about nothing available for sale I just kind of yawn Now. Good way to raise some venture capital though. does it have AI? let's do this
Sounds like the consumer version of the DHL StreetScooter Work (L), with those even the passenger seat is an optional extra. Trouble was that while it's the perfect vehicle for last-mile distribution routes most companies doing that kind of thing (like bakeries) don't have the finances to back up an actual car producer, and DHL didn't want to become a car producer. Taking over the company to get their hands on the trucks, yes, but bringing it to scale so they wouldn't have to subsidise it? Not their business. And German car manufactures don't want to build it because small bare-bones vehicles don't have margin, anything smaller and less fancy than an actual van doesn't make sense to them given the fixed cost of their production lines. Don't worry, though, the inventor got the rights back, production is moving to Thailand, new vehicle is in the pipeline, with the core components (chassis etc.) designed for a 50 year lifetime. I'm sure DHL will figure out how to deliver delivery vans.
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
